‘Don’t meddle in our affairs,’ Remulla tells ICC prosecutor

DEPARTMENT of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla, bluntly told the British prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, to back off from continuing to meddle in the country’s internal affairs over the government’s ongoing probe into the reported deaths in the country’s war on drugs under the previous administration of Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

In a press briefing last September 28, 2022, Remulla also said there is no need to respond to the statement of Khan that the ICC must continue to investigate the war on drugs despite a formal request by the Philippines for its termination.

Remulla’s predecessor, Menardo Guevarra, now the Solicitor General, last September 8, 2022, submitted to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) the Observation on the Request of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to Resume Investigation in the Republic of the Philippines.

Khan immediately issued a personal statement opposing the Philippine’s position, even as the PTC, according to Guevarra, has not yet transmitted its official reply on the matter.

Remulla stressed that the Philippines is no longer a member of ICC and that “we submitted the requested documents out of the principle of comity and nothing more, nothing less.”

The Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC officially took effect last March 17, 2019.

“Maybe he (Khan) should run for office here if he can,” Remulla said during the press briefing.

“The unfortunate thing here is here comes a foreigner who thinks he knows the Philippines more than we do, who thinks it is so easy to run government from our side of the fence,” he said.

Remulla said the Philippine government continues its investigation and prosecution of these cases. “We do everything here in accordance with the rules and the laws of our country,” he said.

“And we all have the Bill of Rights. We know that and we have to observe the Bill of Rights in this country.

“They cannot run roughshod over our system and say you’re a lousy country and you cannot do what we want you to do,” he said, adding: “Are they dictating on us on what we should do as a country?”

“If they want to put our people in jail, there has to be a reason for it and there has to be due process first. We have to observe the rights of the people who are accused of committing crimes,” he added.

Mainly backed by front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) based abroad and goaded by the false reporting of foreign-funded local media groups here, the ICC was prompted to initiate a probe on the casualties of the country’s war on drugs under the Duterte administration.

Remulla noted that despite the lapse of time, the DOJ continues to investigate the deaths but the effort is being hampered mainly by lack of witnesses. “If there are no witnesses, what would happen to the cases,” he asked.

“We are offering witness protection to all those who want to come forward to testify and even to complain,” he added.

“We will be continuing our inquiries; we will continue our investigations. We are not stopping and we are hoping that there will be more witnesses to come forward. That’s what we need here.”

Remulla also reminded the ICC that the arrogant behavior of its prosecutor is a “great disservice” and an embarrassment for the court.

“I hope that the ICC will know that Mr. Khan is doing them a great disservice by putting a challenge to our system,” Remulla added.